Tomahawks

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Photos from our private tour of the “Pittsburgh, Virginia” exhibit at the Fort Pitt Museum

Yesterday we drove up to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to the Fort Pitt Museum. For the past two years they had a wonderful exhibit titled, “Pittsburgh, Virginia,” which focused on the events surrounding Lord Dunmore’s War in 1774, when the colonies of Pennsylvania and Virginia both challenged eachother for ownership of Fort Pitt, nearly resulting in Pittsburgh becoming part of Virginia. One of our flintlocks and a document signed by Lord Dunmore were on display there, and so we had to go retrieve them, but also got the awesome opportunity of seeing the exhibit while the museum was closed, and also leaving with two of the items. Thanks to Mike Burke for giving us the grand tour. This is such a fantastic museum, and I can’t wait to see the next exhibit coming out in 2023….

Lewis and Clark’s “War Axes”

The phrase “Missouri War Axe” really has two different meanings. From my understanding, it was contemporary collectors who termed the “MWA” phrase, referring to what are generally 19th century large flared axe shaped tomahawks, sometimes without shaped cutouts. However, the term was derived, at least in part, from the Lewis and Clark journal descriptions of the “war axes” or “battle axes” they observed in the possession of the western Indians during their famous journey. They ended up setting up a blacksmithing business to cater to this “war axe” trade, both manufacturing new ones, as well as repairing existing examples.

Spontoon Style Pipe Tomahawks in Colonial America

“Spontoon” style pipe tomahawks are perhaps the earliest style of pipe tomahawk, which itself is a truly North American invention arising from the clash of cultures and power converging in 18th century colonial America. Early europeans arriving in the new world commonly carried pole-arms with them, which were relics-themselves from European battlefields and the old manners of waging war.

A new Quarantine Find: Biscayne Axe find from Addison, Vermont

This is yet another Biscayne Axe, a metal detecting ground find relic. They aren’t necessarily exciting or unusual, since they all look mostly the same. But they’re the real deal – no doubt about it, if that’s what you’re looking for. This was found in Addison, Vermont. These early 17th and 18th century axes seem to be found more often in Canada than in the U.S.A., but this was was found in the U.S.A. technically.